July 5, 2018 | Leave a comment If you ever get the chance, Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire, England, is well worth a visit. The present Cathedral dates from 1079 and replaced the Old Minster, which had been founded as early as 642. One of the largest cathedrals in Europe, it boasts the largest nave and greatest overall length of any European gothic cathedral. The new Cathedral was consecrated in 1093, but unfortunately the building’s tower collapsed just 14 years later. Collapsing towers were a common problem in early English cathedrals, and are thought to have been the result of architects failing to take into account the additional weight of the much taller and heavier towers, when laying foundations. Fortunately the tower was soon replaced and still stands proudly over Winchester today, at a height of 150 feet. Winchester Cathedral WyrdLight.com This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. The Cathedral was fortunate to have survived the reign of King Henry VIII, who seized control of the Catholic Church in England and declared himself head of the newly founded Church of England in 1534, following a dispute with the Papacy. During this period, many religious buildings, particularly monastic ones, were seized by the crown and large numbers were destroyed. Winchester Cathedral was not so fortunate a century later however, when following the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642, the huge medieval stained glass West Window was smashed to pieces by parliamentarian forces. The subsequent victory for parliament and the consequential regicide of King Charles I in 1649, was followed by a period of puritanical rule by Oliver Cromwell, who assumed the grand title of Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, until his death in 1658. By 1660 however, the country had grown tired of the austere nature of the government and so the son of the executed King was duly restored to the throne as King Charles II. Following the restoration of the monarchy, the good people of Winchester gathered up the broken pieces of stained glass and duly reassembled the window. However, no attempt was made to replicate the images that had once shone so spectacularly from the original fenestra. Instead the pieces were assembled in an arbitrary, haphazard manner, resulting in the stained glass equivalent of a patchwork quilt! Kindlier observers might refer to it as a collage, however, notwithstanding the unorthodox reconstruction, there is no doubt that the overall effect is quite striking. West Window Gill Hicks / Stained Glass Window, Winchester Cathedral / CC BY-SA 2.0 The next two and a half centuries at the Cathedral would pass in a relatively orderly fashion. That was until early in the twentieth century, when it was observed that floor surfaces were beginning to subside and large cracks began to appear in the walls of the grand old building. T.G. Jackson, one of the most distinguished architects of his generation, was called in and established that the Cathedral had been built on peat, a marshy, organic kind of soil, and that the foundations of the south and east walls were beginning to sink slowly into the ground. William Walker was born in Newington, Surrey, England in 1869. Little seems to be known about his early life, until he began training as a diver at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1887. He progressed steadily through the roles of diver’s attendant and diver’s signal man, before passing both a medical and his deep water test, to qualify as a deep water diver in 1892. William Walker John Crook. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or less. Now I know what you’re thinking; “All very well, but what on earth has this diver bloke got to do with Winchester Cathedral?” Well, quite a lot as it happens! The Cathedral was in imminent danger of collapse and urgent remedial work needed to be undertaken. Approximately 235 pits were dug along the southern and eastern walls to a depth of about 6 metres (20 feet) to enable the foundations to be underpinned. The problem was that the pits immediately filled with water, seeping in from the surrounding peaty soil. The removal of this groundwater would have resulted in the collapse of the building and so an unprecedented method of working would be required if the Cathedral was to be saved. Yes, that’s right, the work would need to be carried out underwater! The man chosen for this painstaking, laborious work, was of course, William Walker. He would need to work at a depth of approximately 20 feet in complete darkness, as the water in the pits contained so much sediment, that light could not penetrate more than a few inches. Between 1906 and 1911, working for 6 hours a day, William single-handedly shored up Winchester Cathedral with more than 25,000 bags of concrete, 115,000 concrete blocks and 900,000 bricks. Once Walker had completed his gargantuan task, the groundwater was finally pumped out and conventional bricklayers were able to move in and restore the damaged walls. On completion of the work a thanksgiving service was held on 15th July 1912, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury. At the service, William was presented with a silver rose bowl by King George V, in recognition of his exemplary service. According to contemporary newspaper reports, the King and William were already known to one another, as when the former had been a naval cadet, the latter had been his diving instructor. When asked about his work on the Cathedral, Walker modestly noted “It was not difficult. It was straightforward work, but had to be carefully done”. T.G. Jackson, however, was more effusive with regard to William’s efforts, telling him that he had done what no other man had done – namely, that he had single handedly laid the foundation of an entire cathedral. Walker is said to have replied “I am proud of the honour”. Walker was twice married and fathered several children whilst working at Winchester Cathedral. At the weekends, presumably! Sadly, William fell victim to the Spanish Flu epidemic and died in 1918 aged just 49. A bust of William Walker, commemorating his great achievement, was erected in Winchester Cathedral and resides there to this day, keeping a watchful eye on those troublesome walls, no doubt! Bust of William Walker at Winchester Cathedral Jan Kamenicek. William Walker statuette at Winchester Cathedral, England. I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. Sources: http://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/our-heritage/famous-people/william-walker-the-diver-who-saved-the-cathedral/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Cathedral https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walker_(diver)